Fran Brill

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (June 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Frances Joan Brill (born September 30, 1946) is an American retired actress and puppeteer, best known for her roles on Sesame Street, as well as playing Sally Hayes in the Hal Ashby film Being There (1979), Dana Mardukas in the Martin Brest film Midnight Run (1988) and Lily Marvin in the Frank Oz film What About Bob? (1991).

Life and career[]

This section relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help by introducing citations to additional sources. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (February 2018)

Brill was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Linette and Joseph M. Brill. Her father was a physician.^{[citation needed]} She is a graduate of Boston University College of Fine Arts.

She began her career in theater, making her Broadway debut in the 1969 play . Her other theatrical roles include leads at the Roundabout Theatre, Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrights Horizons and many regional theaters including the Long Wharf, Yale Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, the Mark Taper Forum and the Actors Theatre of Louisville. She has been nominated twice for a Drama Desk Award, for What Every Woman Knows (1976) and for (1981), respectively.

From 1974-1975, Brill played Fran Bachman on NBC's daytime drama How to Survive a Marriage. Her character struggled with sudden widowhood, and Brill received over a thousand condolence letters. Brill was also featured in episodes of The Guiding Light, All My Children, The Edge of Night, Lip Service and Kate and Allie.

She has also guest-starred on nighttime dramas such as Third Watch, Against the Law, Law & Order, and Law & Order: SVU.

She has one known animation credit when she guest starred as Elisa and Eliza Stitch in Courage the Cowardly Dog

On Sesame Street, for which she has won an Emmy Award, she has created and puppeteered the Muppets called Zoe, Little Bird, Betty Lou, and Prairie Dawn, among others. Playing Zoe, Brill appeared on the TV-series The West Wing as well as many home videos including . With the Muppets she did Saturday Night Live, The Muppet Show, The Jim Henson Hour, Dog City, and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland.

She has also been seen and heard in hundreds of commercials and has appeared in such films as Being There, What About Bob?, Midnight Run, and City Hall.

Retirement[]

In 2014, Brill announced that she was retiring from puppeteering on Sesame Street. The following year, Stephanie D'Abruzzo and Jennifer Barnhart replaced Fran as the performers of Prairie Dawn and Zoe.^[1]

Personal life[]

On July 14, 1979, Brill married Clint Ramsden; they divorced in 1983. She has been married to writer Francis Robert Kelly since June 17, 1988.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography[]

• Sesame Street (1969-2014)
• Being There (1979)
• The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)
• Old Enough (1984)
• Seize the Day (1986)
• Midnight Run (1988)
• What About Bob? (1991)
• Billy Bunny's Animal Songs (1993)
• Nick Jr. (as Jam in "Little Big Room" segments)
• City Hall (1996)
• Elmo's World (1998-2009)
• Doug's 1st Movie (1999)
• The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999)
• Animal Mechanicals (2007) - Mouse

References[]

External links[]

• Fran Brill at IMDb
• Fran Brill at the Internet Broadway Database
• Fran Brill at AllMovie
• Official Website